13.
Awe in Media
“Thus, the scene of Jack’s death, occurring against the
backdrop of a universe of stars and the vast depths of
the ocean […] inspires awe. Add to this the nearly
incomprehensible forces at work in the sinking of this
giant ship and the enormity of the human suffering and
death suggested by the hundreds of bodies seen
ﬂoating in the cold Atlantic, and the opportunities for the
experience of awe […] are plentiful.”
Carl Plantinga (2009): Moving Viewers. American Film and the
Spectator’s Experience. University of California Press, p. 182.

14.
Awe in Media
“Thus, the scene of Jack’s death, occurring against the
backdrop of a universe of stars and the vast depths of
the ocean […] inspires awe. Add to this the nearly
incomprehensible forces at work in the sinking of this
giant ship and the enormity of the human suffering and
death suggested by the hundreds of bodies seen
ﬂoating in the cold Atlantic, and the opportunities for the
experience of awe […] are plentiful.”
Carl Plantinga (2009): Moving Viewers. American Film and the
Spectator’s Experience. University of California Press, p. 182.

24.
Conclusion
• Contemporary video games seek to cognitively and emotionally
address players by staging memorable ‘moments of awe’ within the
interactive gameplay.
• Two appraisals can be regarded as central to the experience of awe:
perceived vastness and a need for accomodation.
• Video games allow for the representation of physical or social
vastness (in narrative terms), but also of ‘ludic vastness’ regarding its
game mechanics and rule system…
• … as well as player skills and capabilities in the case of multiplayer
gaming (e.g. by signaling diﬀerences in social status and power).